314 Rev. Dr. Watt on the different Kinds of Cuneiform Writing, Sc. 
volved through this assumption, contribute powerfully to establish its unsoundness, 
independently of the many proofs bearing the same way, which have been sub- 
mitted for consideration in preceding parts of this Essay. No alternative, there- 
fore, seems left to us, but to conclude that the groups im question denoted names 
only in the imperfect manner above described, and that it is a mere waste of time 
and labour to attempt to analyze them by methods in accordance with the notions 
hitherto in vogue upon the subject. 
The foregoing observations are, many of them, under the disadvantage of 
having to struggle against the present current of popular opinion ; yet I do not 
despair of their eventually gaining a favourable reception, when the test of expe- 
rience shall have come more fully to their aid. In the mean time, I trust that 
they will give no offence to the authors whose views I have had occasion to 
canvass, and that they will be taken by those gentlemen, as they are meant, in 
good part. 
